Puppy Raising

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Perhaps the most rewarding and challenging volunteer opportunity at Deafinitely Dogs! is becoming a puppy raiser. A Deafinitely Dogs! puppy has a very important future! These puppies grow up and become somebody’s everything – someone’s service dog.

Goals For Puppy Raisers

Our puppy raisers work with dogs from approximately 8 weeks to 18 months of age and will likely have the puppy for roughly 4-12 months. The goal of our puppy raisers is to establish a foundation of socialization, experiences, and obedience training. They accomplish this goal by:

  • Helping puppies experience a variety of situations
  • Devoting daily time to properly caring for, feeding, grooming, socializing, and walking/exercising your puppy
  • Attending scheduled obedience classes

Responsibilities

Our Deafinitely Dogs! puppy raisers have a variety of personal and financial responsibilities:

  • Provide food and other supplies as needed
  • Provide preventive, emergency, and incidental veterinary care, including spay/neuter if requested
  • Attend obedience classes. Most are provided by Deafinitely Dogs! unless unavailable or not logistically possible, alternative class must be approved by Deafinitely Dogs!
  • Ongoing socialization, including daily exposure to a variety of environments and experience
  • Provide transportation to obedience classes, vet appointments, events, Deafinitely Dogs!, and other locations as needed

Applicant Requirements

To ensure the long-term success of our program, Deafinitely Dogs! has established a list of requirements for our puppy raisers:

  • Limit of one other adult (1+ year old) dog in the home
  • Must be able to safely house a puppy in their home
  • Must be able to devote daily time to the puppy
  • Must love puppies!  These puppies require a home that provides them with lots of care and love
  • Ability to keep the end goal in mind – these puppies are waiting to find their person/partner and will one day leave your home

Request A Puppy Raiser Application